“It was a good start but Hibs then came back into the game and passed it well.

“We never got a grip of the game after we scored and could have defended better at the leveller. I tried to stop Hibs playing second half but it didn’t happen for us.”

With boss Kenny Shiels in the stand serving a ban for comments made about officials, Nicholl had to discuss ref Bobby Madden’s failure to hand Hibs a penalty for Michael Nelson’s second-half challenge on Paul Cairney.

However, after pointing out Killie’s Momo Sissoko should have had a penalty when jostled to the ground at a first-half set-piece, Nicholl said with a smile: “I will leave the refereeing decisions to the referee!”

Nelson, a rock at the back despite the Cairney incident, claimed Kilmarnock were happy to emerge with a point after Hibs enjoyed a strong second period.

The stopper said: “It was a difficult game. Conditions weren’t great and it could have gone either way so we’ll take a point and move on.

“Heffernan had another good chance at 1-0 with a header and, if that goes in, it’s a different story.

“But we then lost the ball in midfield and they managed to counter-attack and get a goal back.

“There weren’t a great deal of chances in the second half, although James Fowler cleared one off our line.”